Internationally recognized multi-instrumentalists Cesar Lerner and Marcelo Moguilevsky describe their music as ‘Klezfarad’, to reflect the Ashkenazi and Sephardic influences heard in their boundary-crossing repertoire. It’s not quite Argentinian folk music, jazz, contemporary music or tango. It’s both some of, and all of, those things.
Four decades ago Lerner and Moguilevsky formed this prolific duo, making an important contribution and opening new trends in popular music. Their music is created through the use of electronic media, loops, flutes, piano, African balafon, hang, gongs, duduk, ney, clarinet, accordion, harmonica, mouth harps, bass drum and their own voices.
Born of Russian and Polish grandparents who immigrated to Argentina at the turn of the century, their music reflects their personal journeys as Argentinian Jews. From the more evocative album Klezmer in Buenos Aires (1997) to the homage to the first Jewish settlers in Argentina with Basavilbaso (1999), to their most recent album, Sefarad (2017), with performances of traditional and original songs in Ladino showcasing their mix of identities, this duo offers exciting sound landscapes.
This event is made possible by the Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.